The Mound is an artificial
hill in central
Edinburgh, Scotland, which connects Edinburgh's
New Town and
Old Town. It was formed by dumping around 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated from the foundations of the New Town into the drained
Nor Loch which forms today's
Princes Street Gardens. The construction of the Earthen Mound, as it was originally called, was begun in 1781 and it was extended over the years until by 1830 it was macadamised and landscaped so that it appeared more or less complete. When the
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was extended to
Waverley in 1846, tunnels were driven under The Mound to allow access to the west.